An automobile air bag can be deployed by an initiator that is constantly connected to a voltage source, but with the initiator terminals constantly shorted by a sensor. When the sensor detects a collision, its shorting switch opens and allows current to pass through the initiator to deploy the air bag. During vehicle maintenance, a repairman may wish to disconnect the collision sensor from the initiator. In the past, disconnection would lead to firing of the initiator and deployment of the air bag. Accordingly, many prior air bag systems have been constructed to prevent repairmen from disconnecting the connector from the initiator, which hampers repairmen.
The connector can be made disconnectable from the initiator, by providing a shorting device that automatically shorts the terminals of the initiator when the connector is disconnected from the initiator. Such automatic shorting devices are known, with U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,568 by Cronin showing one example, wherein a leaf spring pivots up and against a terminal to ground it, until a mating connector pushes down the leaf spring. However, in a critical application such as an air bag system, any shorting device must have great reliability, especially in assuring that it does not inadvertently short the terminals when the sensor connector has been connected to the initiator. Such inadvertent shorting would result in the air bag not deploying in the event of a crash. A shorting device which was of high reliability, especially in assuring that a pair of terminals are not shorted when two connectors mate, would be of considerable value.